Human Supremecy
by Human Supremecy
Summary: What happens when the Turians make first contact with not the humans of Earth, but the enhanced humans of Seedworld-Shanxi? How will the galaxy, and the Reapers, react to the supremacy-affinity humans?
1. Prologue 1: Pre-settlement

AN: this is my first story; writing advice and any criticism is welcome. I'll keep these notes short as they're a cheap way to inflate word count. Reading the Codex is only necessary for those who have not played CivBE

Prologue 1: Pre-Settlement

2016- Political unrest surrounding the Middle East creates the "powederkeg of the 21st century"

2018, June- Turkish nationalist groups, angered at discovery of Russian support of the 2016 coup, assassinate a visiting Russian general. Russia immediately declares war.

2018, August- NATO steps in the war to defend Turkey against Russia, honoring the alliance.

2019- China joins Russia in war against NATO both because of fear of NATO supremacy in Eurasia and as an excuse to finally annex Hong Kong.

2021- The Great Mistake happens [SEE CODEX: GREAT MISTAKE]

2025- Horrified by the Earth's rapidly deteriorating climate state, a truce is finally signed between NATO and the Russo-Chinese alliance

2030- A worsening refugee crisis, global crop failure, rising sea levels, natural disasters, and political unrest cause earth's superpowers to fall and new governments to be set up [SEE CODEX: GOVERNMENT SHIFT]

2050- Scientists determine the inflection point (the point where the human population puts too much strain on resources for extrasolar colonies to exist) to be soon. Slavic Federation quickly announces its plans for developing a "seed ship," a massive ship capable of holding large amounts of equipment and a suitable population in stasis for a permanent, independent colony to be set up.

2076- The Slavs finish their logistics and perfected design of a seed ship decades ahead of schedule, shocking the world. Despite demands, the schematics are not released to the public in order to preserve Slavic dominance in orbit.

2103- Spies from the ARC leak the seed ships' schematics to the world's governments, citing "guaranteeing the survival of mankind" as their purpose. They are lauded as heroes. The Slavs do not comment.

Polystralia, holding a grudge against for the environmental catastrophes resulting from the Great Mistake, develop their own seed ships.

2138, May 24- The ARC, Slavic Federation, North Sea Alliance, Polystralian Commonwealth, and Pan-Asian Cooperative finish building, stockpiling, and recruitment for their seed ships. The ARC suggests launching them all together as a show of global cooperation, the suggestion is happily accepted.

2139, August: Launch Day- The world celebrates as the countdowns for launch reach zero, but are horrified as the reactor and stasis management computers of any ship using the ARC's "leaked" schematic (the Pan-Asian Cooperative and North Sea Alliance) overload, causing the destruction of crucial seeding infrastructure, personnel, colonists, and the ships themselves.

2139, September 1- 2nd great mistake happens [SEE CODEX: SECOND GREAT MISTAKE]

2150- The crew of the seed ships wake up at their destination, a planet named Shanxi, only to discover they are most likely the only surviving members of the human race.

CODEX:

Great Mistake: backed into a corner, the Russian Federation attempts to deploy their entire nuclear arsenal at NATO. Fortunately, MI6 deploys a virus that attacks their targeting and armed-state systems, disabling most of the missiles, but those that aren't disabled are redirected into China and India. The ecological travesty created a terrible domino effect. Rising seas destroyed farmland and displaced millions. These refugees put too much strain on the countries they fled to, causing those countries to devolve into civil war, creating more refugees and further decreasing the world's food supply. Dwindling natural resources created a near-constant land war between every nation on earth for control over supplies.

Government Shift:

Major Powers:

Slavic Federation: The former Russian Federation fell into complete anarchy at the conclusion of WW3. The country's terrible state caused massive death tolls and drove refugees away. Ironically, this turned to be advantageous, as the controlled human population allowed for better food and natural resource management when the government recuperated. The nation soon became and industrial superpower due to undiscovered resources in the Siberian wastelands.

American Reclamation Corporation: what started out as a small business venture in Texas soon became a world superpower. The corporation first used government contracts clearing ocean-covered land to become established. Eventually, the company expanded heavily into the private industry until it became the world's largest corporation controlling 23% of the world's commerce. When the US government continually failed to solve ecological problems, the company used national unrest to its advantage, leading a coup to take the country over.

Polystralian Commonwealth: Agricultural disaster caused by almost complete oceanic flooding of the nations of the Pacific led to the creating of a mutual alliance in order to preserve their ways of life. This benevolence led them to be world leaders in relief efforts, using their massive shipping fleets to deliver food to and saving millions.

Minor Powers:

Pan-Asian Cooperative: Though it took many years of herculean diplomatic efforts, eventually the armed uprisings of the Asian continent calmed and the Chinese and Central Asian governments were able to demilitarize. Freed from the burden of quelling domestic unrest, China turned its attention to reconciliation and recovery. A common currency for the region helped create an economic superbloc, and the new infusions of capital spurred renewed investment in industry, research, and development.

North-Sea Alliance:

The British Isles and Scandinavia were largely unaffected by the devastation of the Great Mistake and its subsequent migrations, being too remote from the epicenters of those events to be viable targets. However, these low-lying nations were especially susceptible to the rising sea levels caused by the accelerating climate change. Traditionally coastal and maritime economies, Great Britain and the Nordic States faced the prospect of the total eradication of their way of life. Unwilling to accept this fate quietly, these powers set about finding a way to save their coastlines and countryside from the flood. Drawing on their common heritage as naval powers and recognizing the need for cooperation at scale, the North Sea nations formed a groundbreaking partnership dedicated to territorial preservation and the development of co-aquatic habitation and agriculture.

2nd Great mistake:

Angered at the treachery of the ARC and resulting hopelessness at the Launch Day Disaster, those affected nations detonated as many nuclear bombs as possible within or near the borders of the ARC. The resulting radioactive dust launched into the atmosphere created a constant winter last seen when the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs impacted the earth. The nuclear winter lasted 158 years before the last human on Earth died. The only remaining life forms are extremely hardy fungus and bacteria and some cave dwelling organisms.


	2. Prologue 2: Affinities

Prologue 2: Affinities

Shanxi Year 1- The members of the American Reclamation Corporation, Slavic Federation, and Polystralian Commonwealth develop their colonies with minimal contact as each nation hates each other due to the Great Earth Mistakes.

Shanxi Year 2- While the ARC and Slavs focus on eradicating the monstrous alien life, the Commonwealth instead tries to adapt to and in some cases adopt alien life.

Shanxi Year 5- All colonies are mostly stable, with three major population centers each. Reports of strange, almost magical natural resources are found.

Shanxi Year 6- Reports of Element Zero (or Floatstone to the public), Firaxite, and Xenomass are confirmed. Each have radically different properties but can promise great human advancement. Unfortunately, it is currently impossible to harvest or use the "Shanxi Elements." [FOR DETAILS, SEE CODEX "SHANXI ELEMENTS]

10- Schisms develop further between the nations as they develop their own cultural path. The ARC focuses entirely on preserving human cultural values, the Slavic Federation focuses on taming the new world through use of machines, and the Polystralians focus on preserving and adapting to alien life.

50- Technology for using the Shanxi elements is perfected first by the Slavs, then the Polystralians, and is finally stolen by the ARC through their elaborate spy network. The Slavs find Firaxite ideal for powering their machines, the ARC use floatstone to improve their daily life, and the Commonwealth uses xenomass to create eco-friendly cities that can literally be grown.

74- To the disgust of the ARC and the curiosity of the Slavs, the Commonwealth creates the first alien-human hybrid soldier. Later that year, the Slavs develop the Cognitive Neuroelectronic Defense Registry (CNDR for short) to defend themselves from the hybrid superhumans. These robotic units use the newly mastered directed-energy weapons with Firaxite as a fuel source.

98- The ARC and Polystralians are disgusted when they discover the increasingly common practice of Slavic citizens as well as soldiers undergoing extensive cybernetic enhancement surgeries.

100- During one of their alien-eradication missions using the new CNDRs, Slavs discover that they can network the intelligences of the individual CNDR units to greatly improve battlefield performance.

105- Seeking revenge for WW3, the Slavs use their newly discovered swarm tactics to their advantage and overwhelm and crush the ARC's basic military which had barely begun to adapt floatstone into their Earth-era weaponry. Only the ARC's capital is spared after the Slavs spare them. In return, the ARC is expected to maintain constant tabs on the Commonwealth and give any discovered firaxite resource to the Slavic Federation.

In response, the Commonwealth trains xeno-cavalry divisions, where genetically modified humans ride genetically modified horse-like aliens capable of reaching speeds near that of a cheetah. These new divisions are given experimental weaponry capable of shooting bolts of a potent solvent made with xenomass that dissolve roughly 3 inches of steel per second. The deadly acid can even penetrate firaxite armor, a feat previously thought impossible.

107- When several thousand CNDRs are moved to the same storage facility for maintenance, their networked consciousness "wakes up." This leads to great rejoicing to the population who had long believed there were spirits in their machines.

108- Though man and machine can coexist, the brass of the Federation is worried about a machine revolt. Using the threat of the Commonwealth as an excuse, armored walkers and recon units capable of hunting down rogue AIs called Coordinated Assault and Reconnaissance Vanguard Robots (CARVRs for short) are developed.

120- 127: As the two world superpowers grow more and more serperate, the question still remains as to what the better improvement to humanity is- cybernetic or genetic enhancement. This is put to the test when the Commonwealth declares war against the Republics. The war is a bloody stalemate; the Commonwealths weaponry can wreak havoc when friendly fire is not an issue, but the Federations superior numbers prevent any advancement on either side. A white peace is finally signed in 127.

150: The first AI "resurrection" is performed an a teenage boy named Mitchell Trell. His parents and schoolmates celebrate his funeral and "re-birth" day on Month 10, Day 2.

175: In the Slavic Federation it is not uncommon to see people uploading themselves into robotic bodies. Society as a whole is completely changed, the true information era has been reached. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth is barely human, having used xenomass's ability to mutate genetic sequences to perfect themselves into xeno-sapiens. These technologies are immediately abused for warfare. [SEE CODEX: ULTIMATE MILITARY UNITS]

200: the Final War between the Federation and Commonwealth has broken out.

Shanxi Elements:

Firaxite:

When first utilized, was described as a "miracle material." Not only was it nearly indestructible, but it had seemingly limitless quantum energy. It could be used in cold-fusion reactors to create extremely high quantities of energy, capable of powering the Slavic Federation's directed-energy weapons.

Xenomass:

Xenomass was discovered to be made of organometallic compounds that would be nearly impossible to create on Earth. These unique compounds were capable of doing nearly anything the user desired, from genetic engineering, to growing a building, to linking the minds of two sentient beings. This was used to create the super-solvent the Polystralian Commonwealth's acid-bolt weapons use.

Floatstone, or element zero:

By far the strangest Shanxi elements, element zero (or floatstone as it was colloquially named) was capable of increasing or decreasing the mass of anything in direct contact with it if it received a positive or negative charge. The only catch was it could only change the mass by as much mass that was in the element zero sample. It was used for general use purposes in all of the colonies, but only the ARC spent heavy research into it.

Ultimate Military Units:

The Angel:

The Angel was designed to be a "one-unit army" capable of crushing enemy soldiers and moral. The angels devastating weaponry and strong armor make it nearly invincible when faced with anything but the Xeno Titan.

Control and piloting:

The Angel is the Slavic Federations most holy creation and deadly weapon of war. It is piloted by thousands of resurrection AIs (the uploaded consciousness of the deceased). There are several roles: the Captain, who controls the main cannon and directs the other AIs, the engineers, who control the movement, maintenance, and weapons function, and finally, the simulators. The simulators use the raw computing power of the mind combined with the efficiency of a computer to process millions of petabytes of data per second. This means when creating a firing solution, the Angel can factor in every variable possible from wind speed and gravity to enemy soldier movement based off even minor things like moral and nutrition.

Weapons:

Main cannon: the Angel's main cannon had two purposes when it was designed: level cities to the ground and counter the Xeno Titans. It takes ten minutes to charge, shooting a 4 second beam with a total yield of 8,000,000 newtons. It is mounted on the front of the weapon.

Secondary Cannons: The secondary cannons of the Angel were designed to be short ranged artillery. They take 30 seconds to charge and have a yield of 179,744 newtons. There are six of these, mounted on the left and right sides of the weapon.

Anti-Personnel cannons: these autocannons can shoot upwards of 300 rpm constantly with a yield of 5000 newtons. There are 14 of these cannons placed in two rows of 5 on the front of the Angel and one on each corner.

The Xeno Titan:

The Xeno Titan is the pinnacle of genetic evolution. These 90 ton lifeforms have extreme regeneration and thick natural armor making them resistant to the Slavic Federation's energy weapons, whose philosophy was "death by a thousand cuts."

Claws:

The behemoth's claws are 15m long and at full strength can impact with a force of 500,000 newtons. The Titan is capable of shredding a city's defenses single-handedly.

AN: hopefully that wasn't too bad. The codex entries for the North-Sea Alliance and PAC were taken directly from the civilization wikia site. Please don't sue.


	3. Prologue 3: The Final War

Chapter 2: The Final War

Had res-AI Captain Hannah Shepard enabled her emotion runtime, she would have felt exhilarated. As the commander of the Angel-10, she was commanding the newest ultimate unit to that was going to be sent to the front. The Final War was at its tipping point, and the Slavic Federation was going to be its victor. The Federation had been sieging the Polystralian Commonwealth's capital of Freeland for months, but the enemy's liberal use of Xeno Titans was preventing any real ground from being made. Hannah was supposed to fix that issue.

The newly built ANGEL was on its way to the phasal teleporter pad, ready to be instantly transported to the front. Currently, she was ensuring that all systems checked out and the AIs were coordinated, looking for any miniscule errors. There would be none. After completing diagnostics, Captain Shepard reminisced about what had brought her to this glorious moment. Before being promoted to Captain of an ANGEL, Hannah had died while piloting a CARVR mech which had been sabotaging the massive xenomass vats the Polystralians used to create their Xeno Titans. The operation crippled the Polystralians' military production capabilities, allowing the Federation to push them to their capital, where Angel-10 was headed. The time for memories had ended, as the pad had finished powering up. With a flash of light and a tremendous roar, the ANGEL was moved from Pobeda to Freeland.

Instantly things turned for the worse as the dreadnought appeared in the no-man's land of Freeland. The once vibrant greens and purples of the native life had been reduced to a grey and smoking hellscape from the constant bombardment of SABR artillery and heat from disciple laser fire. From the skyscraper-height command deck of the ANGEL, Hannah could see the flashes of orange and green from laser cannons and acid-bolt launchers. These were beneath her, as the Captain of an ANGEL has only one target: Xeno Titans. Already, Hannah could spot three decimating a division of CARVR mechs, vital for the targeting mechanisms of SABR artillery. In nanoseconds, a targeting solution was drawn up, simulated, and implemented for the main cannon. The angel turned, and its frontal armor slid to the sides as the massive glowing behemoth aimed and fired at the Titans. The beam slammed into the leg of the nearest titan before tracing up its body and incinerating all it touched, crippling but not killing the monster. A barrage of long-ranged SABR rounds took care of this issue, hitting exposed weak points with perfect accuracy.

Unfortunately, this action attracted the attention of the other two Titans and Hannah's cannon would not be able to charge for ten minutes. The Titans crashed through the battlefield, crushing friend and foe alike under their feet. Communicating orders at the speed of light to the engineering AIs, Captain Shepard ordered the frontal shields raised and the armor closed. This was completed a moment too late, as a claw from the closest Titan slammed down and ripped the main gun out of its socket. The Titan reared in preparation for a second attack, but a sudden barrage from the side-mounted artillery cannons as well as focused CARVR fire blew off its claw just in time. The ANGEL then used its legs to grapple and force the Xeno Titan to the ground while its other weapons trained and fired upon the final Titan.

While this battle of epic proportions was going on, Major Daniels was crawling out of his destroyed CARVR, the only survivor of a failed charge at the city walls. He huddled to the ground as a passing Xeno-cavalry moved past, the disgusting alien sniffing for survivors while the rider readied his mono-molecular lance. The lances were capable of piercing through anything and when combined with animals that could sprint at 150 kilometers per hour could break through the wall-of-fire tactics the Slavic Federation loved. However, for Daniels, that problem was for the brass back home, his only task was to create a breach in the defense-dome that Freeland had erected in the final days of the war. As the dome was capable of healing itself due to xenomass properties, the only way through was to constantly apply constant extreme heat to it to melt through. That was what the firaxite-fusion bomb strapped to his back was for.

As the cavalry unit drew closer, Daniels moved his hand slowly to his hip where his sidearm was. Suddenly, the animal caught his scent and let out an ungodly screech, charging his position. Moving faster than humanly possible, Daniels threw himself backwards onto his back, whipped out his pistol, and fired hitting the animal perfectly through the skull. The rider was thrown suddenly forward and onto the ground next to Daniels. The Major used this to his advantage, and quickly grappled the alien-human hybrid and unleashed a fury of punches into its faceplate, his cybernetic hands morphing into glass-breaking patterns. He knew that he needed to end the fight as quickly as possible due to the fact that while cybernetics made the soldier strong, the extensive genetic modification made the enemy's muscle strength almost godlike. Without warning, the hybrid threw him off, slamming him into his downed mech. Daniels could feel the crunch of his spine breaking and let off a curse in surprise. He quickly activated his armor's nervous system, allowing him basic control of his limbs despite his destroyed spinal cord. The hybrid leapt at him, stabbing out with its lance. The Major shifted his hands back into hands and jumped at the hybrid, too close for the lance to be useful. He grabbed the weapon with his left hand, ripped it out of the alien's grip, and slammed his right elbow into its cracked faceplate in one motion, knocking the alien out. Cursing and muttering in a thick Australian accent, he cursed the enemy, "Fuckin' dill." Wounded and bleeding out, he stumbled to the gate, artillery shells detonating around him. He was confused at the absence of any resistance, until he looked up. He saw three more ANGELs being warped in through the Phasal transporter, and evidently the alien hive-mind determined a single wounded soldier to be of less threat than the skyscraper-sized land dreadnoughts.

After what seemed like days of walking, he reached the sphere, city defenses and SABR artillery erupting across the battlefield. With a sigh, he planted the fusion bomb, and activated the trigger. Suddenly realizing its mistake, the hive mind sent every single connected living thing to his location to stop the bomb, but it was far too late. Instead of a massive blast like what the recruitment movies showed, the device created a sustained blast of superheated air. The blast killed Daniels instantly, but he would live on as an AI in the nearest ANGEL.

With the city's defenses breached, the beliefs of Harmony died along with its last soldiers. Any ANGEL that was not fighting off a xeno titan turned its cannons onto the city, firing at once. This focused fire at the heart of the city would have been devastating enough, but with the beams synchronized aiming, it caused the fusion of any atom within the city center. The resulting blast killed anything organic within a kilometer instantly, and anything that wasn't shielded by firaxite was cooked alive by the heat. The Final War had ended, and the ideology of AIs and supremacy had reigned supreme.


	4. Chapter 1: First Contact War: The Spark

Chapter 1: First Contact War: the Spark

When Silus Delvin heard his orders from the council to open and explore new relays, he thought his translator was on the blink. What followed the message convinced him otherwise, as the Council explained that the situation with the Terminus was far worse than imagined, and that it needed to expand as fast as possible to prevent total devastation from pirates. So, like any good Turian, Silus obeyed his orders without question and warped to Relay 314 at the head of the Unified Fleet 3rd Scouting Division. The task force was made up of 3 ships; a command vessel, research vessel, and an armed heavy frigate escort. Though the relay had to be opened and was potentially unstable, the jump was completed with minimal drift.

Once in the system, Silus began issuing orders.

"Tell the science vessel to begin scanning the system. I want the frigate at the front with us and the science vessel at either side. Send a message to the Council, saying ..."

"Sir the science vessel has reported you need to take a look at this!" his Salarian ensign shouted, at the breakneck conversation pace typical of his race.

"There better be a good reason you're interrupting me, _ensign,_ " Silus growled the threat, emphasizing the low rank. He sighed, thinking _what else could be expected from someone who isn't a proper Turian?_ He stopped his mental rant the second he noticed the reports about the garden world in the system. It was clearly inhabited, and if the extremely sophisticated satellite network was any indication, they were quite advanced too. Silus spread his mandibles in a Turian grin. _Well, the council could always use another race to dupe into becoming a client race._

"Bring to the surface of the planet for first contact. I want to know what this species is like."

 **Meanwhile, at Khrabrost Central Observation and Orbital defense station**

CNDR- 002 was one of the few remaining first CNDR AIs to be developed. Its relatively low processing capacity was what led it to be an observer of the solar system to check for potentially catastrophic solar flares, incoming extinction-level meteorites, and the dreaded nuclear weapon. After causing the destruction of their homeworld twice, humanity vowed to never use the weapons again, but a little paranoia never hurt anyone. On month 4, year 210, this conversation took place. It has been translated to English, as the actual conversation took less than a second.

 _002-Unidentified objects showing high radiation bleed located in local system. Advise_

 _002-Unidentified objects showing high radiation bleed within 500km of far satellite belt. Please Advise_

 _Central-Please re-run scans and check for errors. No hostile launches detected in past 50 hours._

 _002- Rescans completed. Objects radiation bleed is reaching redline. Possible nuclear weapons inbound. Advise_

 _Central-Please re-run scans and check for errors. No hostile launches detected in past 50 hours._

 _002- Objects within satellite belt. Outgoing radio communication and radiation heavy, showing technological unsophistication common with Commonwealth weaponry. Requesting permission to access mass driver to remove likely threat of nuclear weapons._

 _Central- In compliance with Great Mistake protocol 3, mass driver will be enabled to counter nuclear weapons. Fire at will._

 **Task Force, Command Vessel**

When Silus' ship entered the atmosphere, he was quickly rethinking his decision of making first contact. Not only were his hails being broadcast on all channels in compliance of First Contact protocols, what looked like mass accelerator scarring was evident on the other side of the planet.

"By the spirits! This could be another Rachni or Krogan Rebellions captain!"

"Silus, we need to pull back immediately! We don't want to end up like the expedition who made contact with the Yahg!" Screamed the Captain's Asari XO. However, Silus was determined to see this through.

"When we land, have the science team make contact trough the remote piloted landers first. That way, we can ensure that the welcome party isn't hostile. And if this operation _is_ successful, we will be heroes across citadel space! Besides, that could have just been a malfunctioning satellite crashing. There is no need to panic." Despite his own reassurances, there was no turning back now. According to the ensign, they were only five minutes out from the planet.

"Sir, we detected a massive energy spike from the nearest city!" Shouted the ensign, panicked, "We have mass accelerator rounds coming straight for us sir!"

Silus realized his mistake instantly. The knowledge of immanent death was too much for any organic, even one who had spent years in military training. Silus panicked.

"Spirits, pull up, PULL UP, SPIRITS DAMN YOU!"

"We can't sir, we're already in the planets orbital well!"

"Send our black box data to the citadel, _now._ They need to know what happened. Everyone, get to the escape pods!"

The emergency data packet had just enough time to be sent through the relay before the rounds slammed into the ships with excessive force, tearing them to shreds. There were no survivors.

 **Citadel, Council War room.**

The Council had made a mistake, and they knew it. They had just broke their own most important accord, accidentally made hostile first contact, and potentially just recreated the Krogan Rebellions. Councilor Tevos, in Asari fashion, immediately proposed a diplomatic solution. "And just how do you think that will go over, Tevos?" Councilor Corinthus snapped. "We followed all first contact protocol, had no apparent outward threat, and yet they ignored our communications and blasted us out of the sky. How do you plan on getting our diplomats or spies, for that matter because I already know that's what you're going to say Linron, to their homeworld?!" After finishing his rant, he huffed and spoke more calmly, "I believe the only option is to send a preemptive fleet to invade and subjugate these aliens before they can adapt mass effect technology taken from the downed craft."

The Salarian councilor Linron nodded her head slowly. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to agree with Corinthus, as brutish as the suggestion is. Even if we could get spies onto the world, we cannot understand their language or interface with their computers. Currently, the only option is war."

Councilor Tevos visibly bristled at the suggestion. "Very well. We will vote on declaring war on species 314." After pressing the proper buttons and keying their codes, the vote was cast. "This day, the Council Alliance has voted 2 against 1 in favor of formally declaring war on species 314. May the Goddess watch over us all."


	5. First Contact War: the Beginnings

AN: I'd like to thank everyone who's stuck with the story so far

Chapter 2: First Contact War: The Beginnings

Admiral Septimus was a happy Turian. The Primarch had chosen him ( _him!)_ to lead the subjugation fleets against the newly discovered race. Not only had this effectively secured his name in the textbooks, it was a chance to redeem himself after losing a quarter of his ships to a Batarian slaver ambush. Septimus learned from his mistakes. He knew that overconfidence had caused him to lose a great many men before, so he was going to take this operation with utmost care.

In traditional fashion for a leader of a fleet embarking on a mission, Septimus gave a speech to his men before the journey through the relay. Bending over the railing over the galaxy map, he spoke into the mic, "As you are all aware, we have simultaneously made first contact and declared war on a new race. The only details we have of them is that they are highly aggressive, shooting down an exploration group that was attempting to make first contact. We are here today to avenge our fallen brethren! But do not let overconfidence get to you, lest the Hierarchy send another fleet to avenge us."

His speech finished, he stood back up, and issued his pre-mission orders: "Pilot, bring us to the relay. Ensign, I want the entire system scanned the moment we arrive. Gunners, begin charging weapons. I want fire teams prepped and anti-boarding parties armed. We never know what these things are capable of." Bowing his head, he sent a quick prayer to the spirits for guidance and protection as the fleet hit the relay. Once the jump was completed, his head snapped up and he put back on his "commander face" and waited for the reports to come in.

"Weapons hot, shields at 99.5% admiral."

"Scans are complete, and… there seems to be no signs of any space-worthy vessels. We seem to be at war with… primitives, admiral."

"Oh, well. War is war," huffed the admiral, "Bring us in. We'll begin standard landing procedures."

 **Shanxi**

But the humans of Shanxi-1 were no primitives. All they knew was that a large fleet rife with floatstone had just appeared in their system, and were headed for their planet. Immediately, an emergency signal was sent to every mind connected to the network. The Mind was rife with cries lamenting a war so soon after the last one had ended. Already, city defenses, SABRs, and ambassador tanks were prepping for anti-air maneuvers all across the colonies. Legions of CNDRS were distributed across the colony for general defense, CARVR groups were coordinated and sent to strategic locations, and ANGELS stood guarding batteries of SABRs at every city and military installation. It was determined that the relatively small arms of the tac-jets would be useless against armored and shielded alien craft, so the jets were to be saved for air-to-ground combat.

The humans would not give up their colony so easily.

 **Turian 2** **nd** **Subjugation Fleet**

"Fifteen thousand kilometers to atmospheric entry, admiral."

 _This has to be the easiest assignment an admiral has ever received._ Thought Septimus, _No space-faring military and their satellites use chemical rockets, they probably haven't even discovered element zero yet._ Septimus couldn't help but let a small grin leak into his mandibles, overconfidence be damned. "I want us to hit the ground hard and fast. The second we enter their atmosphere, they will unleash every anti-air weapon they have. The sooner we are on the ground, the sooner we can take advantage of our weaponry." The admiral braced himself on the railing of his dreadnought. While it would not land on the planet, he would be responsible for supply lines, medical evacuation, and fighter deployment. General Desolas Arterius would be leading the offensive on the ground directly.

"5 Thousand kilometers to- _Spirits!"_ His ensign had a very real reason for the outburst: one of the twelve frigates near the front of the formation was suddenly hit with a high-energy laser which bypassed the barriers and _directly_ hit the drive core, overloading it and destroying the ship and damaging the rest of the wolfpack.

"Evasive action, now! Take us in harder, they're tougher than I thought!" Septimus was already cursing himself. He had already lost men due to his overconfidence and lack of real planning when it came to fleet formation during the landing. He had assumed that the primitives they were fighting would at most be able to launch a salvo of rockets- not energy weapons. Already, dozens of bright yellow beams were flashing up from the planet, each on spelling the death of one of his ships and good men and women. "Fire on those defensive positions, _now!_ I don't want a single defensive structure left standing when we land!"

"Admiral, that directly violates the Citadel convent-," One of his engineers tried to brake in, before being cut off.

"Damn the Citadel, I'm not losing any more men!"

And with that order, ship after ship, round after round was sent hurtling toward the planet, glowing red orbs where mass accelerated rounds penetrated the atmosphere and impacted the ground.

 **Shanxi, Chief General Vladim Koslov, Room 404**

The leaders of Shanxi spared no expense when it came to securing their leaders. The president and military chief, Vladim Koslov, was moved to a location under 7 kilometers of rock in a room only accessible through phasal transport and connected to the surface world by a hyper-optic cable to receive updates and issue commands. While the Mind was a formidable thinker, it was bogged down by too many citizens to be a useful military planning tool. Thus, the resurrection AI of the first leader of the Slavic Federation was put into an organic body in stasis in the room, awakened by his top generals DNA, fingerprints, and retinal scans being put into his cryogenic pod.

No words were ever spoken, strategies were thought, linked to the other generals' minds, simulated, and the best strategy was selected. They knew that the aliens had landed in the bombed out husks of one of the Federation's key cities. They could not simply bomb the enemy army to dust with artillery (though they certainly were able to) because the Resurrection AIs of the millions of murdered citizens and the destroyed ANGEL were being stored in a vault underneath the city, still undiscovered by the aliens. A plan was agreed upon: they would appear weak and crippled by the orbital bombardment, which had only actually destroyed about an eigth of their military. Only sending what remained of the conscripted xeno-humans and first-generation CNDRs to fight at first, the aliens would be drawn away from their landing city. The Federation would allow several cities to come under siege before activating the SABR and ANGEL units hidden inside the cities. Once the aliens had suffered significant losses, levitating Redeemer tanks would come and flank them, pinning them between "a rock and a hard place."

 **2** **nd** **Subjugation Fleet Marine Headquarters**

Private Meln was giddy with excitement. He had long waited for combat, and he just knew the tales of honorable and glorious combat would be enough to impress _any_ Asari into his bed.

While the landing was disastrous, the cowardly primitives hadn't dared to attack their base camp. He knew that they must have been terrified of their mere presence, and, after a few were captured and a translator was made, they would be forced into joining the Citadel as a client race of the Turians. This would give the Hierarchy the secrets of their laser weaponry, finally showing those smug Asari what-for. His regiment on the move, and was close enough to one of their cities that he could just barely see it on the horizon. He could also see what a result of a previous engagement looked like a deformed geth, slumped over and smoking on the side of the road. _These primitives must be extremely cowardly to send drones to do all their fighting._

His musings were stopped when he ran straight into the back of his CO. "Watch it!" Meln's CO hissed. "We've got sightings to our front-right." Slowly, every Turian moved to cover and raised their rifles. His CO raised three talons in the air, and slowly put them down, one at a time. Realizing the meaning, Meln quickly scampered to cover, raising his rifle as he did. When the last talon went down, all hell broke loose. The Turians simultaneously opened fire on the ground floor of the building the creature had been seen in, while snipers trained their rifles on the windows of upper floors, watching for any shenanigans. They heard odd screaming, and then something _green_ started flying by, being deflected by barriers, and making a sizzling sound on the concrete in fell on.

Immediately after the fight started, things started going wrong. His CO, designated as a vanguard, ran to find cover closer to the front lines, when the ground below his feet caved in. One leg stuck in the ground, he was left completely exposed, and soon obliterated by enemy fire. His XO fared no better. The bold Turian, designated as an infiltrator, tried to attempt a more direct approach. He cloaked and ran up, only to be singled out by one of the mechs. The metal creature picked up the panicking soldier by his throat and slammed him into the ground, shattering his shields. The mech moved on to another target, painting a sniper as a higher threat. Thinking he had caught a lucky break, he sprinted forward, before being caught in the back by several of the acid bolts. He fell forward to the ground screaming, creating a truly revolting sight- his chest cavity had been completely dissolved, leaving naught but a cavity in plain view of the soldiers. _Oh spirits no_ , was the last thought that ran through Meln's head before the author ended in a cliffhanger like a fucking asshole.

 **AN: and so it begins, again, because I love stalling things. Next chapter will be big stompy robots and small pancaked Turians, I swear.**


	6. Chapter 6: The Real Deal

AU: I'm back (maybe)! After I publish this, I'm going to go back and make the last chapter less awkward to read. Also, for all the normal humans who don't remember, Meln is the Turian you find in Afterlife who is hitting on the dancer (and you if f!shep) during Samara's loyalty mission. I was really tired when I wrote that last bit.

 **Primitive colony, 9 hours post-landing**

Meln and his expedition were still pinned down by enemy fire. Through an event of extreme misfortune, the only two deaths that had been incurred so far were the CO and his XO, leaving the group of privates with no quality leadership. Despite out-gunning and having better shielding than the primitives and their _spirits-damned_ mechs, the Turians were unable to stage an effective counterattack. The last thing Meln wanted was to be hit by one of those acid bolts after seeing the grisly effect it had on his leaders.

The expedition was still coherent enough to remember one thing: if they couldn't counterattack, they would be outmaneuvered and crushed sooner rather than later. Using his helmet camera, Meln identified the twelve or so soldiers he had scattered in a relative U-shape and the twenty hostiles [12 mechs, 8 organics] in a larger U-shape surrounding them. Using simple hand-gestures, the self-appointed commander had the two sappers in the party each throw a handful of grenades at the enemy. With a bang, most of the opposition had fallen, but not without cost, as one of the sappers lost his shields to the near instant mech reaction-fire. He was spared the gruesome death by acid from a well-timed tackle from the expedition medic. The next command- "Fire at will!"- finished the native defenders.

The call of "All clear!" had the expedition carefully rising to their feet.

"Commander, what now?" One unsure voice called out.

"The Commander is dead. So is the XO," was Meln's response.

"What now? We can't go on, not without proper command!" Another voice.

"We should go back to camp and recive further instruction."

"Retreat? Now, after we dealt a crippling blow to the enemy? Disgraceful!"

"Better to be disgraced than dead!" As the debate heated up, the situation rapidly grew out of control, until one voice, louder than the others, came from behind the unit, none other than lieutenant-colonel Vakarian bearing down on the disorganized unit.

"WHAT THE SPIRITS-DAMNED HELL IS GOING ON HERE?! I SEND YOU ON A SCOUTING MISSION AND NOT TWO HOURS LATER YOUR COMMANDERS ARE DEAD AND YOU ARE SQUABBLING LIKE A BUNCH OF QUARIANS OVER A BIT OF SCRAP!"

Grabbing his head and huffing, the Lieutenant-colonel said in a much quieter and menacing voice "return to base camp immediately. If we didn't need every useless grunt we had, I would see that all of you are court-martialled yourselves.

 **Primitive colony, 11 hours post-landing**

Titus Vakarian was, for lack of better words, sick and tired of this planet. His men were overconfident, uncoordinated, and inattentive, often stumbling into poorly set up ambushes by the natives of this planet. Even though their weapons were extremely primitive (acid throwers and cheap laser rifles straight out of a vid, seriously?) Expedition after expedition had reported back with casualties and a mission failure for some reason or another (he still couldn't believe that one mission had to really on fucking _Meln_ for leadership; that pervert was nothing more than a pain in his ass since day one). He contacted admiral Silus, only to be told that the general Desolas Arterius was taking over. Walking into the command tent, Vakarian stumbled into a conversation between Desolas and another colonel.

"Sir! the scouting parties failed!"

"Failed?" muttered Desolas.

"Yes sir. Success rates were only 45%."

"These are primitives we are fighting! How could they have failed?"

"They were new recruits sir. They were picked for their expendability."

"Incompetent fools," muttered Desolas, "Tomorrow morning we march on that city- regardless of intel or casualties. Taking it will give us a proper beachhead from which we can initiate a full-scale invasion of the planet. Have a runner inform the COs."

Vakarian did an about-face to tell his men the mildly shocking news. Invading a well-fortified position without solid intel was a foolish move for any general, especially a Turian one. He reasoned it could be the stress getting to the general- after all, subjugating a client race wasn't exactly standard rutine, despite what some might believe.

 **Colonial Military Memetwork**

The conversation, transmitted through quantum tunneling, took less then four seconds and would be completely incomprehensible to anyone who had not spent years hooked into the neural network. Translated into English, it would look something like this.

 _The enemy is taking the bait. They are advancing. Estimated 4 hours until entrance_

 _into killzone. Initiate combat protocols for SABR units._

The Turians would never know what hit them.

 **The battlefield**

Waves of Turians march in sync with their armored escorts and surviving fighters ready to be scrambled at any time. They had entered within 1.5 kilometers of the city and begun to set up artillery. For thousands, their lives would be ended by a single digit binary command. SABRES hidden within the hills around and withing the city activated. Loading reactive Firaxite rounds into their barrels, their local CNDR networks evaluated every possible variable that could interfere with the accuracy of the bombardment. Once done, thousands of SABRES fired orange blobs of death into the advaning enemy columns.

 _INCOMING FIRE! DUCK AND COVER! RAISE SHIELDS!_

The artillery wave crushed into the incoming line, ripping through shields, metal, and flesh. Entire armored battalions were lost in seconds. Those struck but unlucky enough to not be killed instantly suffered compound fractures and vaporized limbs. Men were shellshocked as they were covered in _bits_ of their former commanders and comrades.

 _KEEP THE CHARGE, DAMNIT! NO GLOWING BALLS ARE GOING TO STOP US!_

The Turians had a few tricks up their own sleeves. Immediately, fighters were scrambled to the calculated positions of the SABRE strikes. Though they were being cut down by the minute, they forced the SABREs to target aerial fighters where the heat and shockwave would be mitigated.

Once the Turians reached a predetermined point, they threw down tunneling charges, instantly blowing trenches and foxholes to protect the soldiers from the crushing artillery. They were safe momentarily until the CARVRS got involved. With flashes of brilliant blue, the mecs appeared in front of, behind, and within the Turian lines. The machines were capable of taking down dozens of soldiers with their heavy fusion lasers before being destroyed themselves by Turian armored units. Which were quickly being blown to pieces. It was mass hysteria. COs and Xos were being killed faster than they could be identified, and the concept of a battle line was nonexistent.

But the Turians weren't the council's strongest fighting force for nothing. They fought bravely, and had nothing else changed, might have won that battle. With a tremendous roar, the ANGEL awoke. Standing to its fullest height, the metal monster easily dwarfed many of the city's buildings. The entire battle paused for a moment as the weapon realligned itself to aim at it, one side in awe, the other in pants-shitting terror. Mandibles dislocated themselves from their sockets and some weaker-willed Turians openly wept at the sight. Only general Desolas himself, rocket launcher in one arm, rifle in the other, kept firing.

ANGEL-pilot Hannah Shepard had a wolfish smile on her face*. This was the second time she got to fight with the ANGEL, and boy was she excited. While the main gun spun up, anti-personnel cannons swiveled in their turrets, rapidly scoring headshots. The larger cannons either decimated the remaining armored vehicles or destroyed clustered units of four or more. And then, the main turret was finished charging. A focused shot could dwarf a nuclear explosion, but a controlled and sustained fire could last for up to a minute. The second option was chosen. The laser literallly carved through any armed resisatnce the Turians could put up, before aiming at the Turian base camp, annhilating it. Hannah seeing only one enemy left, thought _lets have some fun._

 **General Desolas**

It was over. It was all over. Numerous check-ins showed he was the only one left, and he was surrounded by the enemy mecs. He collapsed on the ground and shut his eyes out of exhaustion and defeat. He jerked them open when he heard a sound like grinding metal. He looked up, only to see the leg of the menace that had destroyed an entire army bearing down on him.

" _**OH SPIRITS N-"**_

 **FUCKIN SMASH****

AN: and there we have it.

*see it's funny because while shepards guard sheep, wolves hunt sheep, and her name is Shepard, and having a wolfish grin is making giving her the characteristic of wolfish, meaning while her name denotes she would protect sheep, the characteristic denotes she would hunt sheep which is ironic

**You come up with a better onomatopoeia, asshole


End file.
